0219-25 NY Times Crossword 19 Feb 25, Wednesday

Bill’s time: 6m 57s

Bill’s errors: 0

Today’s Wiki-est Amazonian Googlies

Across

1 Destination of a walk: FIRST

That would be baseball …

6 Command to attack: SIC ’EM

“Sic ’em” is an attack order given to a dog, one instructing the animal to growl, bark or even bite. The term dates back to the 1830s, with “sic” being a variation of “seek”.

15 Musician’s exercise: ETUDE

An étude is a short instrumental composition that is usually quite hard to play and is intended to help the performer master a particular technique. “Étude” is the French word for “study”. Études are commonly performed on the piano.

19 Old hoops org.: ABA

The American Basketball Association (ABA) merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976. The ABA used a ball with the colors red, white and blue. The NBA uses a more traditional orange ball.

21 Dewy-eyed heroine: INGENUE

So often in literature, movies and on stage, there is an innocent woman at the center of the story. Such stock characters came to be known as “ingénues”, a term derived from the French adjective “ingénu” meaning innocent, virtuous, candid and “ingenuous”.

23 Foreign policy advisory grp.: NSC

The National Security Council (NSC) was created by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. It is chaired by the sitting president and meets in the White House Situation Room.

28 “Into the Wild” actor Hirsch: EMILE

“Into the Wild” is an interesting 2007 film directed by Sean Penn that is based on a nonfiction book of the same name by Jon Krakauer. The book and movie tell the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness with very little food and equipment, seeking an extended period of solitude. After four months alone he was found dead from starvation. At the time of death, he weighed only 67 pounds.

32 Birchbark, e.g.: CANOE

The bark of birch trees (known as “birchbark”) is a useful material that has been used since prehistoric times as a building, crafting and writing material. Birchbark is readily cut, bent and sewn and resembles cardboard, although unlike cardboard, it is also water-resistant. Birchbark was a popular material with Native Americans, used for making canoes, wigwams, scrolls and maps.

33 Singer with the 2016 #1 hit “Cheap Thrills”: SIA

“Cheap Thrills” is a 2015 song that was the first number-one hit in the US for Australian singer/songwriter Sia.

34 Small British hunting dog: BORDER TERRIER

Border terriers take their name from the Scottish borders, where they were bred to hunt small game and to kill rodents.

41 Actor Stephen of “V for Vendetta”: REA

“V for Vendetta” is a 2006 movie based on the political thriller graphic novel of the same name by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. The film stars Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman and Stephen Rea. Two other Moore novels made it to the big screen: “From Hell” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”.

42 Wile E. Coyote’s undoing, frequently: ANVIL

Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner are two much-loved cartoon characters from Warner Bros. Wile E. Coyote was created first, and Road Runner was invented as someone for Wile E. to play off. I love this cartoon; it’s definitely one of the best …

54 Onetime place to shop while high?: SKYMALL

“SkyMall” is a shopping catalog found in the airplane seat pockets of many airlines in North America.

56 Syllabus section: UNIT

“Syllabus” (plural “syllabi”) is the Latin word for “list”.

59 Social sewing event… and a hint to the starts of 17-, 29-, 34- and 44-Across: QUILTING BEE

Back in 18th-century America, when neighbors would gather to work for the benefit of one of their group, such a meeting was called a bee. The name “bee” was an allusion to the social nature of the insect. In modern parlance, a further element of entertainment and pleasure has been introduced, for example in a quilting bee, or even a spelling bee.

Down

3 2016 Olympics host city, familiarly: RIO

Rio de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil (after São Paulo). “Rio de Janeiro” translates as “January River”. The name reflects the discovery of the bay on which Rio sits, on New Year’s Day in 1502.

Even though the 2016 Olympic Games was a summer competition, it was held in Rio de Janeiro in winter. As Rio is in the southern hemisphere, the opening ceremony on 5th August 2016 fell in the local winter season. The 2016 games was also the first to be held in South America, and the first to be hosted by a Portuguese-speaking country.

6 French pointillism pioneer: SEURAT

Georges Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist. His most famous work is “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte – 1884”, a work in the pointillist style that can be viewed in the Art Institute of Chicago. If you’ve seen the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, it features quite prominently in a wonderful, wonderful scene shot at the gallery. The painting features ordinary people enjoying a day at a park, and is the inspiration for the 1984 musical by Stephen Sondheim called “Sunday in the Park with George”.

Pointillism is a style of painting that grew out of Impressionism. The pointillist technique calls for the artist to use small, distinct dots of bold color to build up the image. Pointillism was developed in the late 1800s by the great French painter, Georges Seurat. You can go see his magnificent work “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” at The Art Institute of Chicago the next time you’re in town.

7 Word frequently edited to insert or remove an apostrophe: IT’S or ITS

The word “it’s” is a contraction for “it is”, as in “it’s a fun crossword”. The spelling “its”, without an apostrophe, is used in all other cases, most commonly as the possessive form of the pronoun “it”. In that sense, “its” is akin to the pronouns his, hers, ours, etc., as in “the newspaper is known for its great crosswords”.

11 “Terrible” czar: IVAN IV

The Grand Prince of Moscow, and first Tsar of Russia, Ivan IV became known as “Ivan the Terrible”. The name “terrible” is a translation from Russian, and perhaps creates the wrong impression about the man. The Russian word is “Grozny”, which is more akin to “strict” and “powerful” rather than “cruel” or “abominable”.

12 Bone below the femur: FIBULA

The fibula is the calf bone. It lies beside the tibia, with both bones sitting under the femur.

13 Anago, to a sushi chef: SEA EEL

“Unagi” is the Japanese term for” freshwater eel”, and “anago” is the term for “saltwater eel”.

23 Peacock’s parent: NBC

The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) has had a number of different logos in its history, including the famous peacock with which we are familiar today. The first peacock logo was introduced in the early days of color television and was designed to illustrate how wonderful color television would be, so go buy one! (NBC was owned by RCA, and so had a vested interest in sales of color television sets).

25 Baseballer Robinson ___: CANO

Robinson Canó is a second baseman playing for the Seattle Mariners. Robinson’s father José Canó is a former pitcher who played briefly for the Houston Astros. José named his son for the great Jackie Robinson.

27 Chemistry lab hookups: GAS TAPS

The Bunsen burner is a common piece of lab equipment that is used for heating and combustion. The device was invented in 1854 by Robert Bunsen at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. It is sometimes referred to as an “etna”, a nickname coming from the Sicilian volcano.

38 Football stat: Abbr.: INT

Interception (INT)

39 “Most of the ___ in this world is done by people with good intentions”: T.S. Eliot: EVIL

The author T. S. Eliot was the son of Henry Ware Eliot and Charlotte Champe Stearns, so his full name was Thomas Stearns Eliot (TSE).

40 Costa ___: RICA

Costa Rica is a country in Central America that is bordered by Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the South. Costa Rica is remarkable in my opinion, a leader on the world stage in many areas. It has been referred to as the “greenest” country in the world, the “happiest” country in the world, and has a highly educated populace. In 1949, the country unilaterally abolished its own army … permanently!

44 End-of-level enemies in video games: BOSSES

In the world of video gaming, a significantly strong computer-controlled opponent is referred to as a boss. A fight against a boss is a boss battle or boss fight.

45 World capital said to have been founded by King Midas: ANKARA

Ankara is the second largest city in Turkey, after Istanbul (formerly Constantinople). After WWI, the Ottoman Empire had been defeated and the Allies occupied the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The victors planned to break up most of Turkey, leaving native Turks just part of their country for their own. In the inevitable War of Independence that followed, the Turkish Nationalists used Ankara as their base. When the Nationalists emerged victorious, they declared Ankara the new capital of Turkey.

King Midas of Greek mythology might be termed an alchemist as he had the power to turn everything he touched into gold i.e. the Midas touch. That power became a curse, as everything he touched turned to gold, including his food and drink, and even his children.

46 “Shake It Off” singer, to fans: TAYTAY

“Shake It Off” is a 2014 song recorded and composed by Taylor Swift. The song’s title refers to Swift “shaking off” negative comments made by her detractors.

47 Apple’s Cook: TIM

Tim Cook was appointed as Apple’s CEO in 2011, when he succeeded Steve Jobs. Cook had joined the company back in 1998 as senior vice president in charge of worldwide operations. He came out as gay in October of 2014, making Cook the first openly gay CEO of a company on the Fortune 500 list.

48 Residents of Basra: IRAQIS

It’s quite a coincidence that the Iraqi city of Basra has a name that is an anagram of “Arabs”, isn’t it? Basra also features in the H. G. Wells science-fiction tale “The Shape of Things to Come”. Written in 1933, the storyline predicts a global conflict (WWII) that breaks out in 1940 lasting for ten years, after which chaos reigns as no victor emerges. Following worldwide plague, a benevolent dictatorship takes charge and the world moves towards a serene utopia. In time, the dictators are overthrown and peacefully retired, and the people of the Earth live happily ever after, all citizens of one global state with its capital in Basra in the Middle East.

55 Nutrition bar brand with a moon in its logo: LUNA

The LUNA Bar is a nutrition bar introduced in 1999 that is aimed at women. Apparently, the bar was created by a group of female employees at the Clif Bar company to address nutritional needs specific to women.

57 Week-ending exclamation: TGIF

“Thank God It’s Friday” (TGIF)

60 Factor in club selection: LIE

That would be golf …

62 Somme summer: ETE

The Somme is a department in the Picardy region, in the very north of France. It is famous as the site of devastating battles during WWI.